The Delusion of Neutrality on Israel
November 13, 2023
I hope I’m the first to admit that I’m ignorant of much.
Yet in most of my adult life I’ve also resolved to be one who trains up and disciples other teachable men even if I only know ‘one more verse’ than they do.
I have lived in the East, but not specifically the Middle East. I’ve spent considerable time in Israel relative to those in my now Mid-Western circles of Jesus-followers, but I am not Israeli. I write on topics surrounding the Jewish people, but I am not Jewish.
Yet I continue to do it. Why? Because, at the very least, I believe that our Lord calls us out of ignorance on this topic. And for me, to write is to teach, and to teach is to learn, so I invite you to learn with me.
So far, I’ve left an article or two in somewhat vague terms, saying things like:
[M]ay our hearts be aligned with Paul’s (and Jesus’) toward them as we relate with our Jewish friends and as we speak about the Jewish people in our local churches. May we heed the words of Romans 11, and may we even be willing to give up our lives for Israel. If the Holocaust of the 1930–40’s was a foreshadowing of Israel’s final exile before Jesus returns, this may become very practical.
Why have I been vague? Partly because I am just another English class casualty who could never be concise enough to earn more than a pity ‘A.’ But largely because since I was a child I have had a vague sense of this question:
In school I would wonder, ‘what if that was today?
What would I do? And what would I say?’
A naive young boy, I pictured it breezy
‘German citizens opposing Hitler should be easy!’
But even as the question has clarified and grown more specific and relevant in my study, the answer and practicals have still eluded me.
Since October 7 2023, they have become more clear.
A couple years ago, I saw my first brief glimpse, albeit obscure, of how it might appear ‘just’ to be antisemitic. I pondered the fact that ‘free speech’ in the current generation seemed more important than the preservation of truth. I could not imagine the scenes I am about to show you, just two years later, and none of these even include the scenes from the massacre in Israel on October 7. I know that it’s long, but I think it’s important that we all see clearly what is going on, for the world is now small.
Perhaps it’s premature to write, but I am already deeply troubled and overwhelmed in the mess of Twitter/X posts I’ve bookmarked, so I am taking what I have and entrusting my ‘one more verse’ to you, mostly as a distilled curation of other peoples’ thoughts. I trust that this is at least somewhat helpful because many of my circles of friends are not on Twitter/X and only know of my affection for Israel enough to, in times like these, ask me in vague terms ‘what is going on.’
I believe they are asking a deeper question that the Lord has placed in their heart, whether they know it or not.
Knowing that many don’t have the time or energy to mull through all the garbage on the internet, this article is an effort to not only provide a glimpse into at least my own media bubble, but to also distill thoughts, provide lenses, and cultivate resources for further study.
In very heavy practical terms this aims to help answer the question of why geopolitics are relevant to me as a follower of Jesus. It will challenge you and place you proverbially in what the Bible calls very literally, “The Valley Of Decision.”
I beg you not to ignore this. This is the testimony of the scriptures and what side of the valley you find yourself on has eternal ramifications.
The Widening Gap
“I think it would be safe at this point looking at the scope and severity of the events of last Saturday as being a ‘birth pang,’ in the sense that Jesus talks about birth pangs in Matthew 24. I think we can call what happened in Israel last Saturday a birth pang. And that ‘contraction,’ so to speak, being felt, reverberating out throughout the earth…we’re seeing all kinds of interesting reactions — I’d say really strong galvinization for or against, one way or the other, and there’s less and less of a ‘middle.’ And I think that’s indicative of what we can expect to see moving forward. There will be less and less of a middle ground on this issue of the Jewish people, and especially the Jewish people in the land. There will be a point of decision for everyone, and especially for professing believers. What we’re seeing right now in the streets — not just in places like Amman, Jordan or Baghdad, Iraq or Istanbul, Turkey or Ramallah in the West Bank…where we expect to see huge street demonstrations chanting for the death of Israel and chanting in favor of Hamas…we expect to see that in those places. We don’t expect to see huge crowds — and when I say huge crowds I’m talking tens of thousands — in London…Paris…at UCLA…or University of Wisconsin or University of Virginia…and yet we see crowds of thousands, hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands out on the streets, and not just calling for social justice…they’re wearing pictures of Hamas paragliders on their clothing — the guys that parachuted in before they started raping and murdering people in heinous ways — they’re proudly, boastfully wearing emblems of those guys on their clothing. They’re chanting things like ‘We are all Hamas.’ In the United States. They’re chanting things like ‘Find the Zionists, we want their blood.’ In London. It is not a stretch to say that these are not just social justice warriors, these are Hamas warriors. And given the opportunity, with restraints removed, what’s to say they wouldn’t act in the same way? Towards not only Jews in their host nations, but anyone that seems to oppose them. So I think we’re starting to see maybe some of the early indicators of how far and how deep the reach of Jacob’s Trouble’s going to be across the earth. It’s not going to be localized to the Middle East. It’s going to reach out across the globe in one form or another and it’s going to touch everyone’s lives.” — Gabe Caligiuri, Oct 14, 2023
Global Jihad
Of course, as I’ve written about before, jihad is a global (not local) goal for jihadists. I’ll make a couple notes of that here lest we forget the end goal of jihad. But that’s not the point of this article.
Is this all just a collection of empty threats and fear-mongering?
I’ll let you be a judge. Observe the world today:
World On Fire
Let’s start with the places we’d expect.
Lebanon:
Turkey:
(On the topic of Turkey in particular, I invite you to consider a [mostly] ever-relevant article I wrote in the wake of the Afghanistan debacle and a thread of X posts I’m collecting as a sort of follow-up.)
Iraq:
Many more can be cited, but again, that isn’t necessarily the purpose of this article. As stated in the quote above from Gabe, the response of non-Middle Eastern nations is perhaps most worth highlighting.
India:
Spain:
England:
Australia:
Italy:
Sweden:
Bosnia:
Canada:
Ireland:
France:
Germany:
Belgium:
Norway:
Russia: (Perhaps not surprising, but by far the most terrifying)
United States:
New York:
Pennsylvania:
New Jersey:
Ohio:
Michigan:
(^There are many examples of this across the U.S.)
As we’ve seen above and as we will continue to discuss below, these protests have often been violent, no matter where they are, and it is impossible to consider that violence [e.g. murder] outside of such protests is not correlated.
Illinois:
California:
Florida:
Minnesota:
Washington DC: (Cannon Rotunda building)
Texas:
College Campuses:
(This is a good short piece posed specifically at college campuses which highlights the ‘gap’ discussed above and the perceived possibility of neutrality we will discuss later on.)
(For context on the caliphate)
High Schools:
Close To Home:
As we can see from the examples above, we cannot ignore the seemingly distant protests. We will get into some practicals below, but the point thus far is that this problem of Jewish hatred is literally on the doorstep. Terrorist organizations, Middle-Eastern nations (even those of NATO), and civilians in Gaza call for the extermination of the Jewish people globally, not just the abolishment of the geopolitical nation of Israel (which was, let me remind us, [re]established in the wake of the Holocaust).
Westerners and some of the supposed intellectual giants of the West now join in.
As a result, Jews far and wide are being hunted, shot, stabbed, and beaten. Regardless of what you think about the geopolitical state of Israel, consider your humanity in knowing that our Jewish neighbors are scared and our children are being exposed to hatred of the Jewish people either in their school hallways or on their phones.
TikTok aside, I don’t even want to get into the disgusting chaos that is mainstream media right now, but I will at least offer you this:
My point is that this whole thing will impact us, you and I individually, as well as our children. Both today and tomorrow.
On a merely practical earthly level (we will get into the theology of the matter), we will not be able to remain neutral.
If our Jewish neighbors are not being hunted and killed in the streets (God forbid), the organizations we work for may lose their funding or lose key employees according to their stance (or non-stance) on issues surrounding Israel:
We (or our children) may lose our jobs not just for overt online vehement hatred, but also for succumbing to seemingly ‘peaceful’ trends that dehumanize the Jewish people and aim at denying (or otherwise hiding) the truth of atrocities committed against them:
Our children may lose jobs they don’t even have yet, before they even start their first day:
What might we or our children do for the sake of online affirmation in the midst of a social media trend, perhaps under the guise of social justice?
At the very least, this is a call to be educated and to educate your children. I’m not even talking about the Scriptures yet, I’m talking about studying history. We are largely ignorant, and it shows.
It is hard to sift through the media when we are generations removed from key events, but sift we must.
The Controversy of Zion
The issue of the Jewish people is the dividing line. The controversy of Zion, of Jerusalem, will increasingly dictate foreign policy and will trickle down to our own livelihoods and, God forbid, the safety of our families and our children.
Rest assured, this is not a fleeting topic. This issue will not fade into obscurity after it is no longer a current event on the world stage.
And rest assured, the issue is the Jewish people.
I have belabored the point intentionally to set the stage for this key question, as we shift to discussing a Scriptural lens:
Why?
Why all of these things (and more) above? Why such hatred for a single people? Why have conspiracy theories about the Jewish people run rampant for ages? Why do we see massive protests across the whole world against this democratic beacon of hope in the Middle East and not the terrorist regimes of, say, Assad in Syria?
Should we not assume there is something deeply spiritual at play?
If so, should we not do everything in our power to consider the heart and mind of God on the matter?
For this, I’d like to direct you to an ongoing docuseries called Covenant & Controversy. In my opinion, it is perhaps longer and more dramatic than it needs to be, but it is an easy way of ingesting crucial content on this topic, and thus I highly recommend it.
For the sake of this discussion, I want to highlight a couple key writings from other brothers over the past month:
In Gabe Caligiuri’s short article on October 20 2023, called “A Strong Delusion” (which I suggest reading in full), he states the following:
In his second letter to the church in Thessalonica, the Apostle Paul reminds the saints of what he has already taught them regarding “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him.” It was an apostolic priority for Paul that the nascent churches understand that the “appearance of His coming” would be preceded first by a short but powerful time called “the rebellion.” At that time, a “mystery of lawlessness” that is already at work in this age will be fully revealed when a “man of lawlessness…son of destruction” is himself revealed in the Temple of God.
By “the activity of Satan,” this lawless one will act “with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception.” Falsehood and lies will mark this time, bolstered by demonic power. Paul calls this phenomenon a “strong delusion.”
There are many elements of this “strong delusion” which will undoubtedly be peculiar to the days when the lawless one “opposes and exalts himself.” We are not yet living in those days, so we cannot yet presume to interpret the exact form the powerful deception will take. However, knowing that the “lawless one” will be given power specifically to “conquer the saints” and “seduce those who violate the covenant,” we have reason to believe that the delusion enables this end. That is, a major theme of the “strong delusion” will likely revolve around the demonization of God’s covenant people as a means of provoking violations against of the covenant itself, and therefore, against the Covenant-Keeper.
If the covenant in question is a promise of eternal blessing to all nations through a certain Seed of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, and if the patriarchs and their descendants inherited the Land forever as a visible guarantor of that promise, then to violate the covenant would look like an attempt to disinherit their descendants from the Land and thereby nullify the blessing for all. Again, if the eternal covenant promises a Seed from David’s line to sit on his throne forever in Jerusalem, ruling over the nations, then a violation of that covenant would be for those same nations to “trample” the Holy City and to preempt the Messianic coronation. In other words, a “strong delusion” facilitates the events of Zechariah 14:2,
“For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”
Travis Snow, on the same day, wrote on another verse in Zechariah:
“Why are the nations drunk with rage against the Jewish people?
Though appalling, the current irrational hatred of Israel & the Jewish people sweeping the world aligns perfectly with what the Hebrew prophets predicted would take place in the last days, and we must understand this to position ourselves properly and be prepared for the days ahead.
Zechariah, for example, wrote in the 500s BC: “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples” (Zech. 12:2; ESV).
This prophecy concerns a future time that has not yet transpired, but its initial fulfillment can already be seen in the streets of America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.
So what exactly does it mean that God has made Israel, the Jews, and the city of Jerusalem in particular “a cup of staggering” to the peoples of the world.
The Hebrew word (ra’al) that is translated “staggering” (ESV) or “reeling” (NASB) carries the connotation of shaking and trembling.
It is a rare word that occurs only a few times in various forms in the Bible, and in general it is tied to two related concepts: (1) Drunkenness (2) God’s judgment
In Isaiah 51:21–22, for example, God speaks of Israel being “drunk, but not with wine,” because he put the “cup of reeling,” or, the “chalice” of His anger in their hand.
Notably, Isaiah uses similar language here to what we find in Zechariah 12:2.
Thus, the idea is that this “cup of staggering” is one that leads people to act sinfully, arrogantly, rebelliously, irrationally, and illogically, as if drunk, which then brings the judgment and wrath of God upon them.
Moreover, in Zechariah 12:2, instead of the typical word “cup” (kos), we actually find the word “bowl” or “basin” (saph), which implies that it is a larger vessel, one big “enough for all the nations to drink out of it” (David Baron, Zechariah: A Commentary on His Visons and Prophecies, 426).
Overall, these prophecies in Zechariah and Isaiah reflect the idea that when a person, people, or nation turn from the Lord, He actually gives them over to more and more sin and more and more hardness of heart (cf. Rom. 1:26).
This is why, as a general rule, we find that sin becomes exponentially worse in a culture over time.
People continue drinking from the “cup of staggering” and drunkenness, which leads them to more and more radical and irrational behavior, until their judgement is finally sealed by the Lord.
Think Pharaoh in the book of Exodus for another historical example.
In the case of Zechariah 12:2, however, the “cup of staggering” is not linked only to general lawlessness, as it is in other places in Scripture.
Rather, it is tied directly to hatred of Mount Zion and her children (aka. the Jewish people).
God says emphatically here that until the end of this age, it will be Jerusalem, and by extension the entire nation of Israel (both land and people), that will make the nations drunk with staggering and irrational behavior.
This is why nothing we currently see makes sense. This is why we hear people making so many nonsensical moral equivalencies between the Israelis and Hamas.
This is why Ivy League professors are openly justifying the murder of Jews.
This is why the masses are protesting against Israel in the streets.
This is why more and more on the Christian Right are spewing anti-Zionism and the same antisemitic cliches that were popular in the Middle Ages.
God Himself has made Jerusalem a “cup of reeling” in the hands of the people, and if they do not repent, God’s judgment upon them will be sealed.
Jerusalem is the sieve that will separate the righteous and the wicked before the Messiah appears to establish his kingdom (Zech. 12–14).
As someone with close ties to Israel and the Jewish people, I hate to say that the controversy over Zion will only increase in the days ahead.
Do not be surprised by what you see.
This has all been foretold.
And it also presents us with an opportunity to prepare, and to stand on the right side of history.
Many will remain drunk and sealed for judgment. Many will “act wickedly towards the covenant, but the people who know their God will be strong and take action” (Dan. 11:32).”
To bring things down further on an even more practical level to address some of the things we’re seeing today, Gabe provides examples of ‘delusion.’
“The current state of delusion has manifested in a myriad of ways, but at the core, it seeks to demonize, delegitimize, and disinherit the covenant people. It uses lies, backwards logic, and malicious insinuation to achieve its objective of “blinding the minds of unbelievers.” For instance,
- If you accuse those who suffered the most at the hands of the Nazis of being Nazis themselves, you are delusional.
- If you claim that the State of Israel, as part of some global cabal, willingly orchestrated the savage murder of 1,400 of its own citizens in the interest of starting wars and making money, you are delusional.
- If you rabidly post about dead Arab civilians in Gaza while ignoring 500,000 dead Arab civilians in Syria since 2012 (including 5,000 Palestinians at the hands of the Assad regime), you are delusional.
- If you accuse the Israeli government of turning the Gaza Strip into an open-air prison after seeing the tragically obvious reason for such a security apparatus on October 7, you are delusional.
- If you wring your hands because of Israeli “war crimes” in Gaza but not Turkish war crimes against millions of Kurds, or Chinese crimes against millions of Uhygurs, or Russian war crimes against millions of Ukrainians, you are delusional.
- If you believe that the Israeli military is trapping and killing Palestinians in Gaza while ignoring the clear photographic evidence that Hamas is literally trapping people in Gaza with roadblocks, you are delusional.
- If you are a Western social liberal, a woman, a gay person, even a trans person, and you’re on the street advocating for Hamas and Islamic Jihad as freedom fighters when those very men, if they got their hands on you, would not hesitate a half-second to rape and/or murder you like the Jews in the Gaza Envelope, you are delusional.
- If you chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” in the streets or in digital square, knowing that such a chant involves the horrors of October 7 on a national scale, you are delusional.
- If you believe “Hitler was right” or “We are all Hamas” are acceptable forms of peaceful protest, you are delusional.
- If you believe that men who avoid a military base so that they can murder more children and elderly people in the nearby kibbutz are “brave resistance fighters” you are delusional.
- If you see images of the lifeless, bloody bodies of elderly people strewn across the streets of Sderot, Re’im, and Be’eri, and you excuse it as an “understandable” response to 75 years of “occupation,” you are delusional.
- If you see videos of half-naked dead women piled in trucks and paraded through the streets, or handcuffed women with bloodstains between their legs dragged from car trunks in Gaza City, and you think they somehow deserve it, you are delusional.
- If you see the nightmarish images of the charred remains of infant Jewish children and question their veracity because an Israeli reporter misspoke about all of them being beheaded instead of just some of them, you are delusional.
- If you see the blood-curdling, vomit-inducing videos of the aftermath of Jewish women raped while watching their zip-tied husbands and children burned alive, and you dismiss it as fake, or even worse, somehow justified, you are (extremely) delusional.
- If you believe that Israel is deceiving the churches to control them, or that Israel is the Harlot Babylon, or the Beast, or the [insert medieval Christian Jew-hating label here], you are delusional.”
A few more examples of delusion and drunken rage if we hadn’t seen enough above:
I would also like to add that if you think you can remain neutral on the topic of Israel, either inside or outside of the Church, you are delusional.
Delusion of Neutrality on Israel
I’ve seen many public officials in the US politically side-step simple questions, avoiding them with verbal gymnastics about needing to understand the context as if genocidal terrorism is too nuanced to stand against. Watch the video below to see a great illustration of the fact that such questions cannot be avoided, try as we might, and regardless of the reasons we might avoid them. This official would entirely avoid the point-blank question of condemning barbaric terrorists who rape and plunder (and yet subsequently stand for them under the guise of justice).
Indeed, this is a picture of similar questions we may/will all have to answer, if not unto the world, unto our Jewish King upon His return.
Sadly, the Western Church has been largely silent.
Meaning, I’ve seen many posts like this which ‘say’ nothing at all. (Not to mention posting an article from state-sponsored media from Qatar, the power broker and terror sponsor of the Middle East, and specifically Hamas, with a thumbnail of a picture that isn’t even in the Middle East.)
Let me be clear that I am praying for peace fervently. I have a friend in a tank in Gaza with a newborn and pregnant wife at home.
But while eloquent blanket prayers may ‘work’ for now in terms of public opinion from the body of Jesus-followers, I suggest that this is a grievous pastoral oversight.
Called Out Of Neutrality
Walk with me through this next section and consider that there is far more to the parable of the sheep and goat judgment than the mere nature of the animals themselves. [Sessions 3 (end) & 4 (beginning) of RVL’s “Follow The Rabbi” series]
Joel Richardson, during a talk in Kansas City on October 22, said this:
“Joel chapter 3:1–3, here’s an end time eschatological text. So many other passages speak of the same thing. It says that in the last days, just before the Day of the Lord, before the return of Jesus, the Gentiles, the nations, will gather together and form an alliance, a coalition, and invade the land of Israel. It’s very straightforward, Joel 3:1–3:
‘For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem (and we’ve seen this over the past 80 years or so), I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.’
Jehoshaphat is the same thing as the Kidron Valley. It’s the valley that runs in between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives. If you’re standing on the Mount of Olives looking down at the Temple Mount, at the Eastern Gate, this valley that runs through, that is the valley of Jehoshaphat, also called the Kidron Valley.
Now, I’m going to do a little geography. So you’re looking at me. Let’s say that I am the Temple Mount and you guys are on the Mount of Olives. The Kidron Valley is in between us.
To your left is the Valley of Hinnom, the Valley of Gehenna. That’s the valley that’s used to refer to hell, the lake of fire. On your right, in Jesus’ day, was the sheep gate. Which will make sense in a second.
So the Lord says, ‘I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel.’
So half of the church today says Israel is no longer Israel, Israel is no longer the people of God, but the Scriptures say that when all the nations gather together against Jerusalem, the Lord says, ’Then I’m going to judge them on behalf of my people, my inheritance Israel.’
The people in the land right now, though the majority are in unbelief, the Lord still calls them His people because He has a plan — this is getting a bit more technical and complicated — He has a plan that when all is said and done, all of Israel that remains when He returns — the remnant — those who are left — all of Israel will be saved. And so the Lord looks into the future and He speaks of the future as though it’s now. So He still calls them ‘My people Israel’ even though the majority presently reject Him.
And He actually says He’s going to judge the nations because of the way that they invade His land.
And He goes on, He says, ‘they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine.’
It actually talks about human trafficking and dividing the land, things that are very relevant right now with all of the prisoners.
Now, the Olivet Discourse is called the Olivet Discourse because Jesus gave it on the Mount of Olives. They left the temple, they walked away from the temple, and it was one of those moments where they’re looking at the temple… [admiring it, and Jesus told them it would be destroyed, and they ask Him to elaborate]…they’re sitting on the Mount of Olives and Jesus gives His sermon on the end times, called the Olivet Discourse…Matthew 24:21–22.
He says, ‘For then there will be great tribulation (He’s speaking of the last days), such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.’ He says at that time, there will be a tribulation that is unparalleled, unlike anything that has ever taken place in human history. Like that’s a pretty strong statement. Now, could that be hyperbole? Possibly. The point is, something absolutely unfathomably horrible is coming, in the future. And then He says, ‘Unless those days had not been cut short, no life being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short,’ this horrific time of tribulation.
And then at the end of the same sermon, Matthew 25 — and people often don’t connect this parable with the Olivet Discourse — but Jesus gave what’s called the parable of the sheep and goat judgment. And so, Matthew 25:31–36, there’s a bit here. Jesus says, ‘When the Son of Man (He’s referring to Himself) comes in his glory (so when He returns shining like the sun in radiating glory just like the God of Sinai, radiating and shining, not just splitting the ocean in half but ripping the sky in half, coming back with His angels), ‘When the Son of Man coms back in His glory, and all of the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.’
The glorious throne by the way is the throne of His father David. He’s presently seated at the right hand of the Father, but after He returns, then He will sit on His glorious throne, which is, according to all of the prophets, He will restore the royal Jewish Davidic monarchy. If you reject that idea, you have to simply just rip large sections of the Bible out and just throw them away. Or spiritualize them, which sounds good in large segments of the church but it doesn’t work in real life. Tell your spouse sometime, ‘I’ve always been faithful to you…not literally..but mystically I’ve always been faithful’ — no, that doesn’t work in real life, does it.
“All the nations will be gathered before Him.” So after Jesus returns, He will restore the throne of His father David and all of the Gentiles will be gathered together before Him, just like in Joel 3, “I will gather the Gentiles to Jerusalem.”
And then He says He will separate them one from another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and He’ll put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of my Father — ‘ so again, remember, if you’re facing the Temple Mount, you’re on the Mount of Olives, Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives, and He starts talking about something that sounds just like Joel 3. ‘I’ll gather the Gentiles here to Jerusalem and I’ll judge them.’ That’s what He said in Joel 3. Why did He judge them in Joel 3? Because of ‘my inheritance, my people.’ Here in Matthew 24, Jesus just said, ’something horrible — unparalleled — is coming,’ and He says, ‘and when that happens I’m going to gather all the nations and I’m going to judge them. To those on the right, come inherit my kingdom.’ Now what was on the right? The sheep gate. ’To those on the left,’ He says, ‘into the everlasting destruction, the lake of fire.’
It was a giant object lesson. God is a God of object lessons, He likes to tattoo our brains, to burn things into our minds, and this was, if you understand the geography it makes absolute sense. Jesus was expounding upon Joel chapter 3. He says, ‘He’ll put the sheep on the right, the goats on the left, the King will say to those, ‘Come you are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom (now again, these are the nations) that was prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Because I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.’
And they’re like, ‘When?’
He goes, ‘As you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’
Now, theologians have debated, does He mean the poor in general? Does He mean Christians, because Jesus said ‘Who is my mother and my brother? Those who do my will.’ They go, ‘His brothers, His brethren, are Christians, so here He’s talking about Christians.’
Or is He talking about Israel?
Well if we understand the Old Testament backdrop to what He was referring to, we understand the context of what He was talking about, He’s talking about the Gentiles gathering together to ‘Divide my land and to sell my people in human trafficking.’ That’s the context of what He’s expounding upon. What He’s expounding upon here in the sheep and goat judgment is Matthew 24, ’Then there will be a great tribulation such as has never been.’
And so the point is this. The Scriptures, in my opinion, you can’t get around it. They are clear. That something is coming, so horrific, so horrific that it will be a barometer that Jesus will actually use to judge the nations. Whether or not they inherit the millennial kingdom or are cast into the lake of fire.
There will be something that will actually test the hearts of man, and what’s happening in Israel right now, that’s not it yet. But we are seeing a glimpse.
We are seeing, like half of the world is like demon-possessed, they’re out there celebrating the fact that Jews were slaughtered. On campuses throughout the United States, Jewish kids are scared. Think about that, all across the Western world…it’s craziness, like you see guys out there, transgender dudes in dresses celebrating Palestine…’LGBT For Palestine,’ that’s like Chickens For KFC..it’s worse actually.
The whole world is being sifted, being tested. Israel in very many ways is a barometer to test the hearts of man. We, as followers of Jesus, need to be people of the gospel, and in order to be effective people of the gospel, we have to start out by being good neighbors. To me that means standing with Israel in a time of absolute tragedy, and being prepared to stand with them even more so in the future.” [Joel Richardson, Oct 22 2023, 14:07–25:20]
Dalton Thomas, in January 2020, echoes this in more explicit terms:
“We are called to stand with Israel, even unto death. Because standing with Israel is how you stand with the Man that you follow. Matthew 25. What you did for the least of these my brethren, you did unto me. You die for them? It’s as if you’re dying for me.
Wait [Dalton], are you ascribing Christological weight and glory upon the state of Israel? That’s political!
Guys, Jesus is going to determine the eternal destiny of individuals and nations based on what they do with Jerusalem. Don’t tell me this is political. This is Christological. You stand against it, He stands against you. It’s as simple as that. If you don’t like that, you’re outside the camp — it’s ‘divisively unifying.’ If you don’t stand with Jerusalem, He doesn’t stand with you and He’ll stand against you. Bottom line. This is not politically correct but it’s biblical. Jesus stands against people who stand against Jerusalem. He stands against people who stand against Jewish presence on Jewish soil that was given by an everlasting irrevocable covenant that was paid for by the blood of the Son of God… He’s against you if you are against it. It’s not political, it’s Christological, and He bled for it, which means it’s gospel.
If His blood — Hebrews 13 says what? He paid for you by the blood of the everlasting covenant.
The everlasting covenant is the covenant that was cut in Hebron. The “New” testament — guys — the new covenant is the everlasting covenant from Genesis. This is not a different covenant, it’s the everlasting covenant made to Abraham, ratified to Issac and Jacob and David and all the forefathers. His blood that was shed on the cross was Jewish blood to secure Jewish promises to the Jewish people about Jewish soil and a Jewish throne and a Jewish city. You don’t like it, I don’t care. Zechariah says He’s against you if you’re against it. It’s divisively unifying.” [Dalton Thomas, January 2020, 14:30–17:00]
“Israel reveals the hearts of men, and Jerusalem will sift the nations.” -Philip Haney
Beloved, consider that the 1930’s and 40’s was a dress rehearsal for what is to come. Consider that we are here by God’s providence to play a role. Consider the implications for us as pastors and disciple-makers to know and study the eschatology that God gave us in the Scriptures, not so that we would ignore it as a fringe topic, but that we would have a role to play in the days to come, as Moses guided the people through the precise things God said would happen in his day. Consider not just your pastoral obligations to the body, but your neighborly (and basic humanitarian) obligations to the Jewish people.
Consider the Spirit of the Prophets toward Israel. Study Christian antisemitism throughout history and the theology from which it flowed.
I have read the above passage many times in my life of following Jesus. Not until recently have I considered that the “you” was addressed first to Yeshua’s [Jewish] talmidim. And that “they” might refer to ‘Christians’ just as it did in the crusades (and, as far as the Jews are concerned, in the 1940's).
Consider it.
Read Hosea.
Read Jeremiah (31:31–40, 33:23–26).
Read Romans 9–11.
Be ready.
“No one in Hitler’s Nazi Germany cared if you went to church and believed in Jesus.
No one cared if you talked about Christian love and charity.
What they cared about was whether or not you gave your allegiance to the Reich and stood against the Jews.
As long as you did that, or at the very least, kept singing hymns on Sunday as the trains rolled by, you were fine.
This reminds me of so much that I currently see in the Christian Church.
There’s this idea that one can merely keep silent and stay uninvolved in this “foreign war” and “not choose sides,” so that we can keep “focusing on the Gospel” and the “essential matters of the faith.”
But this attitude represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the historical moment.
This is a moment to speak on behalf of the Jewish people and Israel, but just as importantly, it is also a moment to prepare for greater storms on the horizon.
There is no escaping the issue of Israel and the impact it will have on the Church worldwide in the days ahead.
This issue is at our doorsteps, and it is never going away.
Sure, at some point, the news cycle will turn, at least in the short-term.
But the age-old questions and hostilities surrounding Israel and the Jewish people will be back, and when they return, there will be even more at stake than there is now.”
Beloved, answer the ‘Jewish Question’ for yourself.
And please consider the practicals.
The practicals of what’s coming.
The practicals of relating with the Jewish people in your homeland.
The practicals of relating with the Jewish people in their homeland.
If you feel that you are ill-equipped or uninformed, inform yourself. Study the Scriptures. Study history. Be a Berean. Hold fast what is good.
Below I will provide several resources for this endeavor.
Maranatha.
Resources:
- For staying up to date, I recommend following FAI in general, but particularly “The Wire” where they post updates.
They are uploading shortish video recaps of the daily status almost each day of the war to their app and YouTube, as well as clips from live Q&A sessions they’ve been doing and answers to common questions. Concerning opportunities to help financially through them, there are numerous places like here, here, and plenty more. - Big picture if you’re wondering why eschatology and geopolitics matter
- Big picture if you’re wondering how to align our hearts with God’s concerning Israel, as well as Joel Richardson’s book When A Jew Rules The World (free version here)
- Where we’re at in the big picture narrative of scripture as it relates with the impending eschatological timeline, and especially I recommend Joel Richardson’s book Sinai To Zion (free version here). This is also helpful on that final war and our stance on Israel (YouTube if you prefer, or Subsplash if you prefer to adjust speed. Recommend 1.4x.)
- This was written as Afghanistan collapsed. I just reviewed it and, while the immediate context is old, it is still very helpful in providing a more detailed overview of a lot of the key countries at play as geopolitical chess pieces move. What do Israel’s neighbors care about? I also recommend Joel Richardson’s books “Mideast Beast” (free version here) if you want more info on the nations that come against Israel in the final war, and “Islamic Antichrist” (free version here) on Islamic eschatology being Jewish (and therefore Christian) eschatology flipped on its head.
- The future of the Temple Mount
- Our posture toward Muslims — Chapter 17 (“Loving Muslims”) in Joel Richardson’s book “Mideast Beast” (free version here)
- Theology and godly response to catastrophe — Joel Richardson’s book The Mystery Of Catastrophe (free version here)
